#1 自然笔记：辣椒
自然笔记：辣椒
香料岛，黄金国
亚马逊的传奇
示巴女王捎给所罗门
大队骆驼的礼品
珠宝、香料、黄金
马可＊波罗游记
地球应该是一个鸭梨形
穿越大洋，肯定有
天堂与财富捷径
哥伦布船队往西
发现新世界，西印度？
却了无丁香、肉桂
一回回作假弄虚
达＊伽马朝南航行
绕过非洲南端
跨一大片温暖的海域
东印度，香料口岸
天堂迷人的芳香
炮轰敌商，垄断
贸易，葡萄牙与西班牙
哥伦布引ají，火辣
香料世界内无敌！
07/05/09
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在厄瓜多尔旅行，每回用餐都看到桌上的辣酱，叫ají……想起了前不
久读的“香料”一书，里面哥伦布至死相信他发现的是东方，古巴就
是日本，可惜没发现丁香肉桂之类值钱的东西，一次次弄虚，最后身
陷囹圄，郁郁而终。
然而，哥伦布是引入辣椒的，只是太辣，一时还不为人欣赏。至少在
上层宫廷，这个属于前卫：
In his log of Jan 15,1493, he writes of Hispaniola that " there
is also plenty of ají, which is their pepper, which is more valuable
than [black] pepper, and all the people eat nothing else, it
being very wholesome. Fifty caravels might be annually loaded
with it [from Hispaniola]."
Peter Martyr, the Italian humanist at the Spanish court, noted
that five grains of the new plant brought back by Columbus were
hotter and more flavorful than twenty grains of Malabar pepper.
Not even such a dreamer as Columbus could have foreseen the
future success of his ají: It was, of course, the chili, and it was
growing wild all over Spain's new possessions. Within decades
the plant had spread so rapidly around the world that Europeans
traveling in Asia expressed confusion as to its origin.
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